US Education Department to Cut Half its Staff As Trump Eyes Its

Department workplaces bought shut down up until Thursday

Agencies cut employees utilizing lump-sum payments, early retirement

Thursday is deadline to submit prepare for large-scale layoffs

(Adds new government report on improper payments, paragraphs 12-14)

By Timothy Gardner, Tim Reid, Alexandra Alper and Marisa Taylor

WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Education said on Tuesday it would lay off almost half its staff, a possible precursor to closing completely, as federal government companies scrambled to fulfill President Donald Trump’s deadline to submit prepare for a 2nd round of mass layoffs.

The terminations become part of the department’s “last objective,” it stated in a news release, mentioning Trump’s vow to remove the department, which supervises $1.6 trillion in college loans, implements civil liberties laws in schools and offers federal financing for clingy districts.

Asked on Fox News whether the shootings would lead to the department’s dismantling, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated “yes,” adding that doing so “was the president’s mandate.” The layoffs would leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took workplace in January.

Before announcing the layoffs, the company bought workplaces in the Washington location near to staff from Tuesday evening through Wednesday, according to an internal notification seen by Reuters. An Education Department representative did not instantly react to concerns about the nature of the security issues triggering the closures.

Similar closures served as a precursor to shuttering the head office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the humanitarian help firm, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects Americans versus dishonest lending institutions.

The layoffs are the newest action in Trump’s sweeping effort to scale down the federal government, led by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has cut more than 100,000 tasks throughout the 2.3 million-member federal civilian bureaucracy, frozen most foreign aid and canceled countless programs and contracts, regardless of lots of claims challenging the legality of those relocations.

DOGE’s blunt-force technique has actually irritated a number of White House authorities and Republican legislators, some of whom have faced angry constituents at town halls. Trump informed department heads recently that they, not Musk, have the last say on staffing, his first significant public relocate to restrain the Tesla CEO.

All U.S. federal government firms have been ordered to come up with large-scale layoff strategies by Thursday, setting up the next stage of Trump’s cost-cutting campaign. Several companies have used staff members payments to retire early to meet Trump’s need.

Affected Education Department staff members will be put on administrative leave beginning on March 21, the department stated.

The union representing more than 2,800 department employees stated it would combat the “oppressive cuts.”

“What is clear from the past weeks of mass firings, mayhem, and unchecked unprofessionalism is that this program has no regard for the thousands of employees who have actually committed their careers to serve their fellow Americans,” said Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Trump and Musk have argued that the federal government is wasteful and puffed up. DOGE claims it has actually saved $105 billion in cuts, however it has actually only openly documented a portion of those cost savings, and its accounting has actually been pestered by errors.

The federal government reported an approximated $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office launched on Tuesday. The huge bulk were overpayments, the report stated. Total federal expenses topped $6.75 trillion because , according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall incorrect payments figure was down dramatically from 2023’s $236 billion, the GAO stated.

EARLY RETIREMENT OFFERS

Other firms have actually offered lump-sum payments of as much as $25,000 before tax to workers who consent to leave their tasks. Among these are the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, including its Fda.

The buyout offers, combined with another program that reduces eligibility requirements for early retirement, are being embraced as a lower-friction way to assist satisfy the Thursday deadline, personnels professionals at a number of federal agencies informed Reuters.

The Trump administration has actually been facing myriad suits after it fired thousands of probationary workers in a very first wave of mass layoffs and essentially dismantled entire departments like USAID and CFPB.

The General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s home portfolio, is likewise looking for approval to offer the buyout payments to employees, according to an email sent by its acting head to staff on Monday and seen by Reuters. The GSA might not be grabbed comment beyond U.S. company hours. The Securities and Exchange Commission has already offered perks of up to $50,000, Reuters reported.

Human resources and public governance experts stated the appeal of the buyout program is that it is voluntary and less susceptible to legal challenges. It likewise requires workers who have accepted the offer to repay the cash if they take another federal government task within five years.

Only a number of companies have actually telegraphed the number of employees they prepare to cut in the second stage of layoffs. These consist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is intending to cut more than 80,000 workers, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is planning to cut 1,029 personnel.

OPM itself has actually provided lump-sum payments to some 650 of its employees, according to another individual with understanding of the matter. Employees were provided up until March 12 to react.

On Monday, the HR department of the Food and Drug Administration sent out an e-mail to all 19,000 staff members announcing a Friday, March 14, deadline for a buyout program. Those who accept would have to retire by April 19.

Late on Monday, HHS sweetened its prior offer by adding two months of complete pay in addition to the reward, according to a copy of the email seen by Reuters. HHS might not be reached for comment beyond regular U.S. organization hours. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Marisa Taylor, extra reporting by Nathan Layne and Kanishka Singh, writing by Nathan Layne and Joseph Ax; Editing by Scott Malone, David Gregorio and Muralikumar Anantharaman)